L EEPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHEEIES. 



the fish are found to have disappeared entirely from the stream. So 

 much for the dams. As for the other causes, sawdust and other refuse 

 matter get into the gills of fish and produces irritation and subsequent 

 death. Coal-tar refuse is known to be a very great detriment to the 

 healthful condition of water so far as fish are concerned, and it is proba- 

 ble that a part, at least, of the decrease of shad and herring in the 

 Potomac is due to the discharge from the gas-works of Washington and 

 Alexandria. 



The rapid increase in the size and number of the nets, whether pounds, 

 seines, drift or gill nets, that has manifested itself within the last twenty 

 years has doubtless had a similar effect with the dams in producing a 

 decrease. The fish are harassed and worried by them, and hindered in 

 an equal degree from reaching their spawning-ground, and thus another 

 drain on the supply is added to the many already in operation. 



What, now, are the remedies to be applied to recover from this lament- 

 able condition of the American fisheries (a condition which, we may re- 

 mark, has existed in aU countries of Europe, but which in some of them 

 has ah-eady been greatly lessened by the i)roper measures) ? These are 

 twofold. One consists in the enactment and enforcement of legislation 

 protecting what we have, and allowing natural agencies to play their 

 part in the recovery ; the other consists in the application of the art of 

 artificial propagation of the fish. Either, alone, in some circumstances, 

 will answer a very good purj)ose. The two combined conatitute an alli- 

 ance which places at our command the means of recovering our lost 

 ground to a degree which, but for the experience of the last ten years, 

 would hardly be credible. 



7. — POLITICAL AND SOCIAL IMPORTANCE OF INCREASE OF FISH SUPPLY. 



!N"ow let us glance at the imi^ortance in the political economy of the 

 United States of an increase in the supply of fish for food. We are at 

 X>resent a people of 49,000,000 souls, which, by the end of the present 

 century, will probably amount to double the number. The production of 

 animal food on land depends in large part upon the amount of soil avail- 

 able for grazing ; but, with the increase of i^opulation, the necessity of 

 a more lucrative yield makes it imperative to prosecute the cultivation of 

 t3ie cereals or other articles of direct food to man, thus restricting the 

 area of pasture-lands. Many countries of Europe have already reached 

 that i)eriod when they look to foreign nations for then- supply of animal 

 food. America furnishes a great part ; the less populated regions of 

 Europe the remainder. The increase in the price of what is called 

 " butcher's meat," though gradual, is inevitable, and every year a larger 

 and larger percentage of the population will be unable to secure it. In 

 this emergency we must look to the water for the means of supply. In 

 former days the inhabitants of the sea-coast and rivers obtained a very 

 large portion of their animal food from the water ; and in proportion as 

 this state of affairs is restored will the condition of the future population 



